Field of the Invention
The invention relates to reversible eyewear worn about the head and a method of reversing an orientation of the temple arms relative to the lens frame with hinge units.
Discussion of Related Art
Reversible eyewear has known advantages where the opposite sides of the temple arms bear different designs from each other to give a different look or appearance. Being fully reversible, eyewear that has a professional look can be worn to the office or an important business meeting and with a simple manipulation of the temple arms flipped to reveal a fun design that can be worn in more casual setting. The term reversible eyewear is worn about the head, namely, eyeglasses, sunglasses, prop glasses, eyeshields, goggles, safety glasses and combinations of these, provided they have temple arms that are attached in a manner that renders them reversible in their orientation relative to the lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,660 to Chao et al. discloses eyeglasses provided with at least one reversible arm that can be manipulated to fold in towards the outer (front) face of the lens retaining portion of the frame, thereby covering it. The arm can be attached to the frames in a variety of ways. For instance, the attachment can be mechanical, or magnetism may be employed in fixing the arm to the frame. Several structural arrangements are described that permit reversal of the arm from a position behind the lens retaining portion of the frame to a position in front thereof. The arm can then be folded to cover the front and back sides of the lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,731 to Rogers discloses a reversible eyeglass structure having an ear piece support assembly pivotally connected through a hinge connector assembly to an eyeglass frame assembly. The eyeglass frame assembly resembles a normal eyeglass assembly except that the glass sections and the main frame assembly are extended in parallel planes so that the eyeglass lens can be view through reversed directions and a nose bridge member can be used on a person's nose portion in opposite directions. The ear piece support assembly includes a pair of ear piece support members which are constructed in half sections with exterior surfaces of different colors and/or designs. The ear piece support members are pivoted 180 degrees to effectively present two sets of different appearing eyeglass wear in the one reversible eyeglass structure. The hinge connector assembly provides for ear piece and frame connector assemblies interconnected by a pin connector assembly and including biasing means to hold the ear piece support members in both usage conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,621,633 to Foster reveals a modular eyeglass frame device that may be used to selectively alter the appearance of the eyeglass frames for many different reasons and is produced in an array of colors and styles so that users enjoy interchanging several pairs of the present invention to correspond with particular outfits, occasions and moods. Being fully reversible, a pair of professional looking eyewear can be worn to the office or an important business meeting and with a simple manipulation of the ear pieces is flipped to reveal a fun design perfect for cocktails or an evening out with friends.
In an article by Long Tran on Nov. 19, 2007 entitled “LIKE JEKYLL AND HYDE”, Hyo-Jong Kim is mentioned as a designer for Switch Glasses by Yanko Design. The Switch Glasses' design adds pivots and hinges to the arms and lens of a pair of glasses. By flipping them around, one can take advantage of two different frame colors. That is, users can wear with two colors by spinning rims and bows (arms) of eyeglasses. The bows (arms) of the eyeglasses can be spun 180 degrees through the end pieces and can switch the lens by spinning of the rims.
It is desired to devise an alternative hinge mechanism to facilitate reversing the orientation of temple arms relative to the lens frame that enables retention of the temple arms in either of the reversible orientations under magnetic force.